Round 18 2012
After a poor couple of weeks West Coast returned to the winners' circle in emphatic fashion, opening up a daunting lead in the first quarter and then racing away in the last with 11 goals to blitz Brisbane by just shy of 100 points. A remarkably accurate Eagles side had 15 goalscorers, led by Jack Darling's haul of five, while Nic Naitanui added three goals to his 36 hit-outs and a mark of the year contender in a best-afield display. Summary Goals: 'Darling 5, Hill 4, Hams, Naitanui 3, Cox, Hurn 2, Gaff, Lynch, Masten, McGinnity, Priddis, S.Selwood, Sheppard, Shuey, Waters '''Best: '''Naitanui, Waters, Gaff, Hurn, Darling, Glass '''Injuries: '''Kerr (leg), Rosa (jaw) '''Reports: '''Glass for rough conduct on J.Brown, S.Selwood for wrestling S.Black '''Sub: '''McGinnity for Kerr (leg) in the third quarter Named sides In: Shuey, Hill Out: Brennan, Newman Late change: (BRI) McKeever for Drummond (knee) Club Champion votes From the coach "Overall a pretty consistent, intense four-quarter effort which is what we were asking of each other. "...They (the midfield) were a lot better today. Still want to get better and we have got to challenge ourselves to get better again but they are coming along really well. "...We are getting some really good clearances but the ones we are getting are pretty telling. It seems to be more of those 50/50 ones that the opposition are latching onto. The last two weeks haven't been very good but if we pressure the opposition, they don't get great meterage from them whereas we tend to get some pretty good meterage."''The West Australian (30 July 2012, p.GAM16), "Word for word" From the papers "Coming off a quiet fortnight when opposition ruckmen limited his effect by taking his run at clearances, Naitanui imposed himself on this one early, with a couple of trademark dashes, a forward-line screamer that resulted in a goal and some brilliant tap work to Shuey and Priddis. He created goals for Josh Hill and Priddis after stunning ruckwork. With Waters picking off a kick-in to sink a 50m bomb and Dean Cox helping himself to a goal after clean possession from a throw-in, the Eagles went to quarter time with a 34-point lead and complete control of the match. The Lions were battling hard but were using the ball poorly and were getting murdered on the way back. West Coast, on the other hand, were successfully putting the ball in the hands of their better ball users and the results spoke for themselves."Mark Duffield, The West Australian (30 July 2012, p.GAM8), "Nic puts on show as Eagles smash Lions" The Age "Naitanui was simply unstoppable in the 28.7 (175) to 12.5 (77) rout, taking three speccy marks to go with his 15 possessions, three goals and 36 hitouts. The 22-year-old was as dominant in the air as he was at ground level and he had plenty of helpers as Jack Darling (five goals), Andrew Gaff (30 possessions), Luke Shuey (10 clearances) and Beau Waters (30 disposals) joined the party. West Coast set up the win with a seven-goals-to-two opening term. But it was the last quarter during which they became utterly ruthless, piling on 11 goals to make the result an ugly one for Brisbane."AAP, The Age (30 July 2012), "Naitanui shines as West Coast thumps Brisbane": http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/naitanui-shines-as-west-coast-thumps-brisbane-20120729-23676 WAFL results '''Round 19 (28 July) Peel vs West Perth (Strijk) Perth (Smith, McInnes, Tunbridge) vs East Perth Claremont (Stevenson, Swift, McGovern) vs East Fremantle (Brown, Stevens, Dalziell, Brennan, Dick). Hamp and Papertalk played reserves Subiaco vs Swan Districts (Embley, Newman) Bye: South Fremantle Injury list In the lead-up to the round the following players were listed as injured: References http://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2012/181920120729.html http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2012/18/wce-v-bl 2012 18 2012 18